Batman: Playing Cards
by The Jolly Bounty
Summary: "You and I are the same Robin..." The girl held two cards up "it's just you drew the King and I drew the Joker"
1. Chapter 1

**Ok this started as a sketch... superheros are fun to draw. I sort of came up with a character and well this idea came together. This is going to be based on the New Batman Adventures. Why? Because I don't have enough idea about the DC comic world to write it from that point of view... So I'm going to write about the tv show... hurray!**

**I do not own Batman**

Chapter 1

The sky was dark gray, clouds heavy with rain however without them you wouldn't be able to see the stars anyway with all the bright lights of the massive city bellow. Two shadows flew across the dark cityscape; people looked above them gasping as they saw the two.

"Mummy who's that?" One boy pointed as the shapes swang past him on their seemingly invisible lines.

"That's Batman and Robin" His mother explained pointing to the larger and smaller shapes in turn.

As they swang around the corner and landed on one of the many skyscrapers of Gotham City. The larger darker clad man pulled a small communicator out of his belt.

"Batgirl?" He said, the boy next to him glanced up fiddling with his mask slightly.

"Batman the Joker's setting off a bomb in the nearby Shopping centre! He has hostages" The girl hurriedly explained.

"Alright we'll be there" He quickly shot out his grapping hook and his partner followed suit only seconds later.

They were lucky. The shopping centre was not far from their position and they were on the roof next to the large building within minutes, using their binoculars to try and get any information they could. Bellow them the police were huddled around the entrance and above was a helicopter. The boy next to Batman was feeling anxious trying to stop a particular unwanted but simular memory from coming to the forefront of his mind.

_It was just another night patrolling for himself and Batman having already stopped a few bank robberies and busted a smuggling ship, they were just about to head back to the Batcave. When they saw six police cars and three fire trucks heading in the opposite direction and they knew their night wasn't over yet._

_The Joker and his henchmen had taken hostages in a large thirty story building and had a bomb ready to blow. It didn't seem to be a robbery, just a cold blooded murder._

_The duo carefully made their way in though one of the twenty-sixth story windows and while Batman went after the Joker; Robin went to help get the hostages out of the building. After a very furious search he found where the hostages were. They were in the twenty-seventh floors office section; he found one of the henchmen down and the other three shooting at one of the hostages. It was a girl who had somehow gotten herself free._

_It wasn't hard to dispatch the rest of the henchman since the girl was doing a very good job of distracting them. Once they were out the girl proceeded to help Robin untie the rest of the hostages, there was only four including the girl when a voice ran though the security system._

"_Hello all party guests! Seems like we have a few unwanted crashers, well if they are so eager to see the big fireworks show... Let's have it ahead of schedule!" this was followed by the Joker's signature laugh. Panic ran though the small crowd of hostages as Robin thought quickly. Pulling out his grapping hook, he shot it and tugged it to make sure it was secure before taking the hand of the closest hostage and swinging her with him to safety. When he had returned the others had tied the unconscious henchmen up and what followed was the agenising minutes of uncertainty of when the bomb would go off._

_However soon there was only the girl and one of the henchmen left. The girl insisted on going last, helping the boy wounder secure the henchmen and swing away to safety._

_When he landed on the roof next to the building and turned to swing back he was greeted by a loud boom and the sight of the building falling as the bomb went off. Batman landed next to the boy the Joker tied up and knocked out over his shoulder._

"_Is that everyone?" He asked, Robin shook his head knowing as the building fell there was no way the girl could have survived that._

In the present he felt a hand on his shoulder, looking up he saw Batman looking down at him.

"I'm fine" the boy said as convincingly as possible "let's get the Joker!" he shot off his grappling hook and Batman followed.

Crashing though one of the second floor windows they were greeted by the sight of many more of the Joker's henchmen and Harley Quinn sprinting off to tell the Joker that Batman had arrived. Dealing with the brutes the duo began to look around for the hostages.

"Why if it isn't Batman and the boy blunder" queue the laugh, the two turned to see the Joker dressed in his usual purple suit with Harley Quinn next to him.

"Joker where are the hostages?" Batman yelled, the Joker and Harley looked at each other.

"Hostages? Oh you mean those corpses out the back there? Yeah they weren't any fun" He laughed again. Batman took a step forward when the Joker held out his hands and shook his head "wait, wait Bats! The adults shouldn't have all the fun! Decks come out here and introduce yourself to the Boy Blunder!" As the Joker and Harley ran away laughing, Batman followed. As Robin took a step a playing card, ten of hearts embedded itself in the ground right by his foot. He looked up.

There was a girl sitting on one of the pillars out the front of the Greece themed shop. She waved at him as she jumped down.

"You must be Robin, nice to meet you" Robin narrowed his eyes as he sized up the girl. She was about his age, thinner and shorter. She crossed her arms over her loose fitting top shirt. Robin threw a batarang at her, she narrowly dodged, the bat shaped weapon cutting straight though the club on the left side of her shirt, revealing the black undershirt beneath it. The girl moved forward aiming a punch at his chest, which he dodged and tried to counter. She ducked performing a high kick which worked only because Robin was momentarily distracted by the fact she was wearing a skirt. Robin stood up, red in the face as the girl winked from behind her black mask "ready for round two Boy Wounder?" she smirked pulling at her skirt slightly revealing a tiny pair of black shorts underneath.

Both charged straight at each other again.

"Let's play hide and seek!" The Joker called from within the labyrinth of a men's ware section. Batman kept his guard up. Harley Quinn leaped out at him only to be tackled by Batgirl.

"Thought you could use some help" she explained as she began to fight the red and black jester. Batman moved on to find Joker who was on the other side of the cloths maze and up an escalator in the electronics section.

That was where the bomb had been set up as Batman climbed the escalator he could see Harley and Batgirl's fight as well as Robin's against an unfamiliar opponent he assumed was the 'Decks' person Joker had mentioned. Batgirl seemed to have Harley on the ropes but Robin seemed evenly matched with the new foe.

As Batman ran to where the Joker was standing his back to him. He pulled the man back revealing a manikin as a timer started. It's mechanical voice started from thirty seconds and counted down, Batman began to try and stop it, trying to hack into the system as the Joker ran away stifling a laugh.

Harley Quinn did the same while Batgirl was distracted she sprinted off out of the clothing section down to where Decks and Robin were fighting.

"Come on kido!" she said pulling Decks arm along with her as she ran. The girl pulled away from the clown looking annoyed but continued to run beside her. They dodged down as the two heroes tried and failed to catch them and went through a hidden exit that they had prepared themselves meeting Joker on the other side.

The three jumped into the Joker's purple car and drove away two out of three laughing.

There was only three seconds left and Batman had tried everything he could think of, he unplugged the system as it hit one. Instead of staying on one as he had hopped instead he was given a message that said 'April Fools' with some confetti thrown up by the machine and he threw a batarang at the message smashing the screen. Robin and Batgirl appeared moments latter and the three returned to the Batcave in silence as the police entered the shopping centre.

"Why would Joker do that?" Batgirl asked taking the cup of tea Alfred offered her "Generally he'd just blow the place up" Robin shrugged

"Maybe that's why?" The red haired girl shrugged herself glancing over at Batman who was typing into the large computer in the Batcave.

"Found anything on that Decks person yet?" she asked, he stopped

"No, she's not a known criminal at least not under that name" he looked over at the teenage boy "did she remind you of anyone?" the boy shook his head.

"Nope, she was fast though and she fought dirty!" he sounded like his pride was hurt.

"Seems like she's Joker's new toy" Batman remarked returning to working on the computer.

**Remember folks don't flame unless you have an extinguisher!**


	2. Chapter 2

**-Stares- someone actually alerted this... Maybe -gasp- someone may review it to!**

**Though I wouldn't mind hearing what you guys want to see in the story especially early on since if you want me to start throwing in pairings I need a heads up...**

**Yes I am completely cheating you guys out of so many chapters with this update but hey would you rather one long update or a bunch of much shorter ones... shut up you get the long one!**

**I do not own batman**

Chapter 2

Tim dodged again this was his fifth time running though the training program having set it on its hardest difficulty. He gritted his teeth as leaped over obstacles.

"_Can't you do better than that Wounder Boy?" the girl taunted having dodged the boy's attack again, a card was held in her hand. She turned preparing to throw it when the boy came charging back. With one quick movement the card was in the air and sliding just past his ear._

_He had thought the card had missed him till he felt the warm liquid falling from his ear. The girl smirked pulling a stray strand of ink black hair from her face._

"_Well ain't you lucky I missed"_

He gritted his teeth; thanks to her he had a notch in his ear. He only had one saving grace in that situation. Decks had to be a terrible shot to have missed an enemy running strait at her. He dodged the blur that was coming at him and then the other one and the one after that. He started wondering if Bruce had just given up at some point making this course.

Of cause that was the thought that led to him being hit and having to start again, not that he wasn't far from the beginning anyway. He glanced over at Bruce who didn't speak as he reset the machine and waited for Tim to get back to the starting mark.

He had been surprised by the boy's sudden almost religious training before he would hear at least a groan most days. He suspected that Decks was the inspiration for this, though he was worried about how much defeating the girl had taken over the boy's mind. He pressed the button that started the machine while watching the boy run through it.

_The girl threw a punch which he dodged and took hold of her arm, she tried to pull away kicking at him. It was an accident a moment where he didn't know what had happened._

_One moment the girl had let out a pain filled cry surprising him. The way she held her arm suggested it was broken._

_But then she was throwing a punch as if nothing had happened_

As he dodged the objects hurling themselves towards him he remembered the other times he had fallen for that trick.

_Decks dodged him again however she wasn't ready for the spinning kick he threw at her. She hit the wall and it looked painful. He stood unsure if he should check on her. He took one step and the girl was up again throwing a punch as if nothing had happened, throwing a cheap shot in for good measure._

"_Come on Boy Wounder you got to do better than that!"_

Robin dodged another flying object, he had stopped caring about figuring out what they were.

_Dodging the girl's attack he threw his own. They traded blows as per usual nether side giving in. However Robin didn't have time for it this time. He knew it was cheap but he kicked her in the stomach and she fell backwards. He tied her up having learnt from last time._

_Robin moved to where Batgirl was fighting Harley Quinn and the rest of the Joker's yet-to-be-defeated henchmen._

_The moment he took his eyes off the card suit themed girl was the moment a card flew straight past his head embedding itself in one of the goon's arms._

_When he looked behind him there was no girl._

Tim somersaulted over the large gap panting. Next time he met Decks he still had no clue how she had gotten out of the binds.

"_Well what do you think Boy Wounder?" he stared at her. Decks was smirking at him playfully. In her hand was one of her cards. She held it up ready to throw; he did the same with a batarang._

_They threw them at the same time._

_Decks card clipped his side._

_His batarang did much more damage. It hit her shoulder and stuck itself deep, leaving the girl bleeding and having to retreat._

_Though the trail of blood didn't lead him far_

He was hit again though he was pleased with his progress. Tim doubted Decks would be ready for him next time.

Decks unlike the boy she had decided was her rival was not training... not how you'd think someone like her would train.

In the Joker's latest hide out she didn't have a room, she had a corner. Her corner included a pile of pillows and blankets which wasn't so much a bed as... well a pile of blankets and pillows. On the wall was a dart board where the bullseye had been almost completely carved though, in the centre hung one single card though just barely.

The girl herself was sitting on the ground with three decks of cards in front of her. One was the deck she used when fighting generally. The cards were actually made of tin, easy to throw and much more dangerous than paper cuts. The second pile was also tin however it was the spare card deck from which she was replacing a few missing cards.

The third deck was simply a very old and worn deck of cards. The cards had all come from different decks that had been given to her over the years...

Slam!

Crash!

Boom!

She sighed losing her train of thought. She knew she shouldn't expect quiet when living under a lunatic's roof but it would certainly help.

She glanced over to see what the other's who inhabited the warehouse were doing. She couldn't see much though the random giant stuffed bear was right in her view. She didn't know why it was there... She did live with clinically insane people though so she doubted she would. She peered around the bear to see what was going on.

"But puddin' can't we have a day to a'selves?" Harley Quinn was trying to pull the pale man's face so he had to look right in her eyes. It didn't take Decks a second to figure out what had happened.

Joker was playing mad scientist Harley demanded attention... it amazed her that this all too often occurrence had yet to lead to their deaths.

She also noticed the Clown Prince as he was called was getting steadily less patient with the red and black clothed girl in front of him. Decks sighed which drew attention to herself.

"I'm sorry dear but don't you think that's a little too inappropriate with our _daughter_ around" Both adults looked at the teenager, Harley looked severally disappointed. Decks calmed her own seething emotions.

The Joker had just called her... Fine she'd play along. A cheerful grin appeared on her face and her eyes brightened.

"Don't worry Mum and Dad I'll leave you to have your fun!" She spun around and grabbed her shoulder bag. She placed the mismatched deck within it as well as her knife. She checked herself in the nearest mirror; luckily she was wearing civilian clothes. Decks picked up her long brown jacket and headed for the door whistling a cheery tune as she did. "I won't be out late!" She called in a sing song voice as she gave a wave and made her exit.

"What'ta nice gal, now we have the day to our selves puddin'" she heard as the door slammed shut. She could almost see the Joker's face, _furious_. She almost hoped she would get back and she wouldn't have to deal with one of them. Disgust replaced the happy expression on her face, again she was lucky... her showmen's skills had come in handy.

She glanced in her bag, there wasn't much in there except for her _allowance_, why must the crazy's play house? She wondered, a tracking device, part of _their _deal and a panic button. Though she didn't need ether of those, the Joker's name was enough to keep her safe.

As she walked the streets of Gotham avoiding what seemed to be all day traffic, she wondered what she was actually going to do... Looking down at her clothes she guessed she could use some new ones. She was mostly waring Harley's handy downs, more 'playing house' she guessed and the few she had brought with her. Nether cases were in fantastic condition.

So she hopped on a bus to the better area of town and started looking around for a shopping centre. It wasn't a hard thing to find though however a shop selling what she wanted was.

Decks admittedly had an odd taste in fashion, something people would often call _slutty_. She wasn't short on confidence when it came to her body... it just came with the territory of having the past she had. She grinned slightly thinking of the happy memories she had shared with her parents between their shows.

Her grin grew bigger when she found a large surf style shop that looked right up her alley as she searched though the items on the sale rack. All the training came in handy she could probably fit anything on the rack. She sifted though the clothes eagerly finding bright, colourful clothes to try on.

She had forgotten how tiring shopping was as she sat down with her cheap meal in front of her and her bags in the seat next to her. There weren't many but they were good and could probably last a while... unless Harley decided to borrow them.

"Mind if I sit here?" she glanced up taking a sip of soft drink. The voice belonged to a boy around her age. She shrugged and waved her hand. She was lucky to get the table in the crowded food court anyway. He smiled at her as he sat down; he pulled his inky hair out of his face before taking a bite of his cheese burger. "I'm Tim Drake by the way" he said after some silence. Decks blinked deciding on an alias to use.

"Jacqueline Peters" she said after a moment "Jackie, Jacks or just Jack is fine" he nodded, they started talking about just general teenager things like school which Decks had to fake her way though since there was no chance of her getting an education while living under a wanted criminal's roof. They kept talking long after they finished eating however Tim got a call which meant he had to go meet someone.

"See you Jack!" He called and the girl waved. She looked at the clock herself and decided she didn't want to go back to the warehouse yet. She mostly wanted to soak up the normalcy of the shopping centre for a little longer... she also didn't want to walk in on anything that would mentally scar her for eternity.

By the time she did leave, after window shopping for hours she caught the late bus and it was starting to get dark as she made her way back to the hide out.

She kept her hands on her knife while walking keeping to the main roads as best she could, of cause the hide out for a major criminal was not in the safer part of the city. However this did not stop a bunch of men from following her. She was aware of them for a while, she wouldn't be alive if she wasn't that capable but she wanted to know why they were following her first.

It was obvious pretty fast that they had no clue who she was and there for were not really a threat. She was deciding what to do with them when she heard a sound from above and quickly moved as a shape came down from the roof and knocked one of the three down. He made short work of the other two, Decks felt almost proud that her rival had gotten so much better in such a short frame of time. She had to stop herself form clapping, she wasn't Decks at the moment.

She had to play the part right?

"Are you okay?" The boy in the masked asked, Decks nodded figuring from his expression she looked like a frightened puppy.

"Thank you for the help" She said trying to appear relieved, she resisted the urge to add a nickname after that, it was hard... He just looked so damn proud about it! But since she couldn't taunt she might as well feed his ego so when they next meet tearing it down can be even funnier "I'm glad there's people like you out here to save people like me" she gave a sweet smile much like the one she had given the Joker this morning.

"Yeah well..." he wasn't used to praise like that "you should get going, streets like this aren't places to be walking alone"

"Know from experience?" She couldn't stop that one, it was a sarcastic response but she was genuinely interested in Robin.

"Yeah I know the streets" he said vaguely, looking up. Decks felt her stomach fall, someone was above them. Their frightening shadow enveloping the two of them, Robin glanced at her. "You better get going before it gets any darker" she nodded absentmindedly as the boy took out a hook shot and flew off. She watched transfixed to the spot for a moment.

It was odd... she had met the Batman before, why had he terrified her this time... Hell the only time she could compare how she felt then was to how she had felt when the Joker had pulled he off the street.

She contemplated this as she went and lay down in her corner.

Robin knew the streets like she did

They both had terrifying... partners

She vaguely shuffled the deck of cards as she thought of all the other likenesses they shared. She meant to take a card from the deck but ended up with two. She grinned at the irony as she looked at them.

"You and I are the same Robin... It's just..." The girl held two cards up "it's just you drew the King and I drew the Joker"

**Before you ask about it my own taste in clothes is much more street ware t-shirts and boy cut jeans. I don't know why I decided Decks had that taste in clothes... Probably because I wanted to have her ware something completely different from the norm of the characters I write.**

**Oh and I start holidays tomorrow yes holidays... that I will spend doing my art, English and photography projects... wait how is that holidays? Anyway I'm hoping to get some more chances to write this and Pokémon mirror over them wish me luck**

**And remember don't flame unless you have an extinguisher!**


	3. Chapter 3

**...So... Have a chapter that does not advance the plot in the slightest but is just here because otherwise the plots to fast... Look character development!**

**I wasn't planning on making this story that long anyway...**

**I do not own Batman**

Chapter 3

Decks was out in civilian clothes again, her job was to scope out the area of the next crime. She stretched out her arms as she got up from the bench she had been sitting on the green paint was starting to peel away with age. She fixed up her crimson low cut shirt and shorts as she yawned slightly.

Admittedly being in the nicer part of Gotham, such a large green park especially was great. The sun on her exposed neck and stomach was warm and the cool wind took away the kick. In her hand was a quickly melting ice cream cone, strawberry flavoured.

She smiled days like this reminded her of when she and her parents would go out during the day when they were up of cause. Shows every night meant late sleep-ins especially when Decks had been old enough to get up and get herself to school all by herself.

She found herself beside the lake where she dipped her fingers in tentatively. It was cool and the clean water was clear. She sat down on the concrete side of the manmade lake and removed her bright high-tops and socks. She carefully lowered her feet into the water and looked around the park.

Her spot by the lake also had the great luck of having the mark be right in view.

The mark was the stage that was being built on the other side of the park, a benefit concert Wayne industries were putting on. Why? She didn't know. The concert was meant to be in one week and her job right now was to see what security it had, how far they were in the preparations and anything else she could find.

She didn't completely know the plan, which was unsurprising. However from what she knew it was just another mass murder for the hell of it.

As far as she could tell no one thought the concert was a target for anyone's crime after all they weren't keeping the money they raised there.

She sat for a while watching and finishing her ice cream before she finally tugged her shoes back on and stood. She's probably have to visit the park over the next week again but for now it was time to head back to the ware house and give her report.

/

The day of the concert she was doing the very same thing; she had chosen a different spot each day and often bringing a book along so she didn't stand out. Like the last few times she had come there was a large fence around the stage with a few grandstands for good measure. She was on look out at the moment.

It was final preparation time, now she knew exactly what was planned for the concert. Her stomach felt hollow.

There she was, knowing full well that hundreds of people were going to die tonight and what was she doing? Sitting on the grass in the shadow of a large tree, a copy of 'Damia' in one hand and a can of lemonade in the other, beside her was a back pack with her costume in it.

Not that she could do anything... but she still had to deal with the feeling

"Jack?" She blinked looking up at the figure above her "I thought it was you!" she put on a cheerful smile

"Oh yeah... Tim right?" He sat down beside her. _Crap_ she thought, what if something happened. She moved her backpack to her other side under the guise of making more room in the shade. "So why are you out here?" he grimaced

"It's go to work with your parents week at school" he explained

"Oh... so your parents are working on the concert?" She enquired more out of politeness than anything else.

"No... Bruce Wayne... took me in and he's here looking over the preparations..." That surprised her a bit that said it shouldn't have she had read things about the owner of Wayne industries taking in some orphan but at the same time... she just happens to meet them? Tim seemed to have noticed how quiet she was being.

"What about you what do your parents do?" He asked. She didn't speak for a moment, what the hell was she going to say to that?

_Oh! They're dead and I'm on the pay roll of a psychotic clown..._ Yeah that would be a fantastic answer... she needed something... her eyes flashed but she didn't need to completely lie.

"They're... well they're not famous or anything but they're an escape artist and assistant... they don't rack in a lot of cash and you wouldn't know them but they love their work" she smiled in a way she hadn't smiled in a long time "they just do odd jobs to get us by till they make it big"

"That sounds awesome... Do you know any tricks?" Decks thought for a second before turning around and pulling the small miss matched deck of cards out of one of the back packs side pockets.

"Only some goofy magic tricks sorry" she said as she shuffled the deck and closing her eyes. "Now pick a card and memorize it" he chose one form the centre of the deck "now put it back" he did and she shuffled again pulling one card from the deck. "Is this it?" She held out the ten of clubs.

"Yeah that's it!" he looked at the deck "wait couldn't you just tell by the back since all the cards are from different decks?" she shook her head

"There's at least two cards from each deck in here" she explained showing him the backs of the ten of clubs and the four of diamonds both had a intricate pattern in red of entwining flowers on them. "Plus I had my eyes closed till you put the card back in the deck" Decks showed him some of the other minor tricks she had learned as a child.

"So are you planning to be a magician when your older" Decks who had been shuffling the deck again paused.

Up until a year ago all she had ever wanted was to be up on stage with her parents or one day having taken over their show when they retired... So what would she do now? Probably be a criminal.

"Jack?" He shook her shoulder gently

"Huh? Oh sorry lost in thought"

"Tim!" They both looked down across the park where a tall figure was calling for the black haired boy. Tim stood up.

"Got to go Jack, you going to be at the concert?" Decks was preoccupied with her watch which told her it was time to head to the meeting point.

"Maybe, Drake just maybe" she said playfully smirking as she turned and headed in the opposite direction.

/

Tim watched her go for a moment how Jack had just replied... seemed familiar...

/

Having found a safe location to change Decks hid the back pack in the hopes she'd be able to come back for it latter. If not she had everything she needed with her.

She stayed in the shadows as the concert attendees held out their tickets and started piling in; there were a lot of people.

She glanced up at the sky, it was getting very dark at this point and the consort would start soon. She needed to meet Harley. Decks straightened up her skirt so that the spade on one side and the diamond on the other were just about next to each other.

Decks was careful as she made her way around the concert fence, it was just a simple chain link fence. It would have been easy to break through but with her white costume she would be too obvious. She moved further down the fence line a card in her hand in case of trouble. Ahead of her was the small dark area behind one of the stands. She moved closer, the stand stood so there was a lovely piece of shadow where gap in the fence sat. It was perfect for getting in or out, though you wouldn't want to sneak in though there unless you were on Joker's team. She observed a large amount of blood splatter on the ground and sighed looks like some civilians had.

"There ya are" Harley grinned seeing the girl "K, Kido puddin' wants you to clear the stage for'im" Decks nodded slowly, deciding on her plan of action as she moved her way over to the stage.

"Hey who..." The guard didn't finish he was knocked out by an elbow to the head. Decks smirked, clear the stage yeah she'd do that. She'd found the controls for the lights and music as she waited for the first performer to come up and start playing before she unceremoniously knocked out the Tec boys and tied them up in the nearest closet. She did know quite a bit about the technology used for performances so messing around with it was easy. She messed with the lights first confusing everyone before she started on the pyrotechnics forcing the band and everyone else of the stage. The audience was in a panic, no one knew what was going on...

Till the laughing started then there was silence as one solitary figure walked onto stage. Decks even had the showmanship to get the spot light working so it stood solely on him. The clown prince of crime bowed repeatedly as he made his way on to central stage.

"Ladies and Gentlemen welcome to the real show!" He called out as Harley and another goon brought out a large metal tube, Decks put out another spot light to highlight it in the night.

Then she dodged an attack from her right.

"I knew something was missing" she smirked dodging another punch before throwing her own.

"You ever stop to think "you know maybe I'm doing something wrong?"" Robin asked her dodging the punch.

"... that matters why?" Decks retaliated at him, she glanced at the stage the two bats were fighting The Joker, Harley and the rest of the goons, and everyone should be fine. Her concentration lost for a moment Robin hit her with a punch straight to her gut throwing her back onto the pyrotechnics control panel. She ended up pressing three buttons these buttons set of a small line of controlled fire however it was way too close to The Joker's gas tube.

Having gotten in that good punch, Robin kept it up using his training to good use. He hit the girl continually into the panel. She stood up slightly dazed accidently pulling one of the levers down which led to the once controlled fire to be an inferno, taking out the Joker gas in one beautiful explosion.

Decks and Robin stood on the edge of the balcony looking to see who made it out if anyone did.

Robin saw Batgirl helping the front row to safety from the fire and Batman getting the bands to away from the blaze.

Decks spotted the Joker and his gang heading to their designated escape point and smirked.

"Well Boy wounder it's been fun, maybe we'll catch a concert again" Robin spun around to catch the girl but she had already jumped down and had disappeared into the crowd. He headed down to help his team mates knowing he had heard that voice somewhere else...

/

Tim Drake watched a news report on the events of the concert... There was something strange about the attack, the fire and explosion had only caused a large amount of injuries. However there had been no deaths.

Though a stand owner and a couple of teenagers who had tried to sneak in seemed to have died before the events...

**Ok so some plot did happen and we got to know Decks a bit better... Aren't you happy? Good because we probably won't have much from her point of view for a long time... Sucks if you liked it I guess... I don't expect this story will go anymore than ten chapters though guys... I have other things to do and well... If I ever find a way to go further I might just make a sequel –shrugs-**

**And remember don't flame unless you have an extinguisher! **


	4. Chapter 4

**If anyone is wondering why I haven't been updating Mirror but I have been putting out one shots (Like Dear Batman and The Fear Filled Robin) and writing a lot of PC that's because I generally have two stories going at the same time. The main one (Mirror) and the one I write when I have writer's block (PC) and if I have writer's block on the second one you start seeing one shots. Mirror will take some time because it's a very important chapter and it's a lot darker then they have been so far (I also don't want to make Fire's past to much more obvious and there will probably be some major hints in the chapter) So just bear with me for now.**

**Okay I lied Decks has a pretty good sized pov part in this chapter but hey... who cares?**

**I do not own Batman**

Chapter 4

Tim Drake watched anxiously as the Batcave computer having been left behind while the others went on petrol, it did gave him the chance to check something out though. He was watching the loading bar as it ran though the records, everything that the computer had access to. He tapped his fingers against the table as the minutes passed.

"What are you doing?" as the boy turned the chair around he saw his guardian still in his costume along with Batgirl "you should be in bed" the boy glanced back at the screen for a second.

"Do you remember that girl I was talking to in the park before the concert?" Bruce nodded removing his mask "the way she said something reminded me of someone..." The computer beeped and Tim looked at the large screen, clicking a few times and sighed "I thought so" Bruce moved forward to look at the screen, Tim noticed and started to explain "I was searching her name to find out anything I could about her... However there are three people named Jacqueline Peters in Gotham" he brought up all three profiles "none of these girls look anything like her"

"An alias" The man said

"For who?" Barbara asked, Tim's eyes narrowed for a second, feeling so stupid

"For Decks!" He cried out "I can't believe I didn't think of it earlier! I've met them both and she fooled me" Bruce put his hand on the boy's shoulder

"Relax Tim" Barbara talked for him "maybe what you know could help us find out who she actually is" Tim nodded getting up from the chair and started telling the two everything Jack/Decks had ever told him.

/

Decks narrowed her eyes as she held up three of her tin cards; she threw all three as the dart board. Not one missed but at the same time they didn't land as she expected them to. She gritted her teeth walking over to remove the cards and repeat the excises. She was getting a bit stir crazy not being able to leave the ware house.

Admittedly it was her own fault. A smirk threatened her face but she chose to keep her face as blank as possible. She threw the cards again and again she didn't get what she wanted, an exact vertical line.

She didn't know it if was even possible but she was board, lonely and trying not to think about the worrying thoughts that plagued her.

Pulling the cards from the board again she sighed.

"You made the choice" she told herself "You're lucky you got off as well as you did"

_The Joker hadn't been happy, not only had the gas canister exploded but no one died from that even!_

"_Look at the bright side boss... We didn't get caught" one of the goons said. His offering was met with a gun in his face and a not so nice death. The rest of the Joker's men shared looks hoping to not be the scapegoat, even Harley knew not to try and sweet talk him at that moment. He paced wildly for a few seconds before in a split second he had his hands at Decks throat. The girl's eyes for the first time in a long time showed distress and fear. Everyone moved away happy that the young girl would take the blame._

"_You know Peony... with how well you handled those controls early on in our little show it surprised me how you lost all control of the pyrotechnics" Decks felt the pressure on her neck and tried to calm herself. "Especially when you take our deal into consideration" he tightened his grip_

"_Robin..." She tried to breathe "he... knocked me into the controls" The clown's hands removed themselves from the girl's neck._

"_Oh I see the little boy blunder got in the way" Decks had her hand on her neck nodding "well I do know how those heroes can be a thorn in the side" he hit Decks on the back, the girl flinched slightly keeping her balance. "Don't worry about it"_

_She looked up at him, something in the way he said those words, the look in his eye... She knew this was going to be bad._

_Didn't help that his signature laugh followed soon after._

So here she was throwing cards at a disintegrating dart board with no clue what to do... Oddly she found herself wishing she could speak to Tim Drake. It wasn't because of any particular feelings she may have had for the boy himself just the way their conversations went... How normal they felt, like she was just an ordinary teenager.

"Decks" hearing his voice she spun around feeling the full force of the boxing glove gun in her stomach, her back hit the wall with a sickening crack. She coughed up blood and looked up at him her body shivering in agony. "I forgot to punish you" he held the gun up next to his shoulder. "Come now Decks this is why I chose you" she stood using the wall to help herself up, she coughed up more blood. She didn't speak and kept her eyes as blank as possible as she straightened her back and wiped the blood from mouth with her arm.

"So your plan?" She asked as the last of the pain left her body

"Haven't thought of it yet" he turned to leave "but don't worry you'll have a large part to play"

That made her feel worse... and there was the laugh

/

Weeks had passed since the Joker's last sighting. However from the letter Gordon had given the crime fighters they now knew where to find them however they also knew they were walking into a trap.

_Face it Bats you're never going to find us_

It hadn't taken Batman long to realize that the message was alluding to the 'Face it' factory, a makeup factory. It seemed a little too literal for the Joker.

/

"Wasn't the clue too obvious puddin'?" Harley commented as the three of them prepared the factory. The Joker laughed

"In all the excitement I didn't want to worry about Bats not getting the joke" Decks moved a barrel, keeping very much to herself. Over the past few weeks all she really had done was target practise and she had been left to that. The Joker every once in the while making a remark about how important her role will be.

"After all" she jumped slightly realising he was right behind her "this is the day our little Decks becomes part of the family" something clanked against the top of the barrel. Her eyes widened and her stomach fell in front of her was a hand gun.

"Why..." She started turning to the man who was ginning more than usual.

"Truth be told I always thought the Bat had one too many kids..." Her face paled as she understood

"Our deal..." She finally got out quietly as he waged his finger in her face.

"Now, now Peony if you had been a good girl and held up your part of it" Her eyes widened. "Oh yes I noticed" he bent his hips so he was eye level with the girl "such great accuracy unless... say in a fight" She tried to think of a way to explain it away but the Joker just placed the gun in her hands "so now unless you want to be back on the streets I suggest you clip the little bird boy's wings" She gritted her teeth she nodded and hid the gun.

/

As the three heroes entered the factory, they found it empty or seemingly so. This only put them more on edge.

"Split up and call if you find anything" Batman said as the two younger heroes nodded heading in opposite directions.

Robin found himself in a storage area just off the main part of the factory; the place was filled with barrels of chemicals used in making the factories products.

"Robin" He heard Batgirl on the receiver

"Yeah?" he asked noticing how from where he was he could barely see the main room even with it so close.

"Have you found anything?" He was about to answer when something flew right by his ear disabling the devise. He spun around to see Decks sitting on one of the barrels. She didn't have the usual smirk on her face, she looked almost sad.

"Decks..." The girl stood up and stepped off the barrel keeping eye contact the whole time.

"Let's just cut the chit chat Boy wounder" she pulled the hand gun from her shirt turning the safety off and aimed it straight at his head. Robin stared at the girl in horror; a gun never seemed in character for Decks.

"You don't want to do this" He told her in response he got a pitiful smile.

"No... Not overly but I don't have a choice"

"Jack..." She stared at him for a moment before breaking into a humourless laugh.

"Oh... wow I can't believe it..." She stopped laughing "Tim" it was his turn to stare at her "please you're the only black haired boy who I gave that name to"

"So you know who I am and I know who you are" she shook her head

"No you really don't"

"Peony Sarah Brice, daughter of Darien and Summer Brice who were a famous Escape artist and assistant that was until they came to Gotham." He paused for a moment as the girl absorbed the information "when Summer Brice was found dead outside their hotel and both Darien and Peony disappeared" Decks glared at him

"Congratulations Boy wounder you know who I am" this was the first time Robin had heard the girl speak with such venom. "Doesn't exactly change the situation we are in"

"But why are you doing this Peony..." The girl's eyes narrowed "are you just trying to catch your mother's murderer or..." Tim admitted to himself he was clutching at straws, with all the detective work they had done it still left them with no clue why the girl had joined up with The Joker.

"Tell me Tim why did you join up with Batman?" The girl asked "your family is gone to... Did you join up with him to catch their killer?"

"No!" he growled "I did it to help the city" he saw something in the girl's eyes falter

"You know all this time I've been trying to find the difference between the two of us" she was more talking to herself then Tim "we may have had different lives but we were both the victims, both lost our parents... I wanted to know" she was crying "I wanted to know why you were saved and I was dammed!" She held the gun to her head

"Peony!" Robin shouted

"I get it now... It's because your unselfish while I... I did this to save myself" she pulled the trigger and collapsed in a pull of blood.

**...Well crap... Some of you may be able to guess what happen next but there will only be two more chapters of this story.**

**By the way Peony is a flower and it means bashfulness, compassion, shame and a happy life. I thought it fitted with her family being famous and all that her having such an odd name. Not saying all kids of famous people do but I so rarely get the chance to name a character something so different from the norm the temptation was too much.**

**And remember folks don't flame unless you have an extinguisher!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Okay so now we have reached... well last chapter was the climax... Okay the rest of the climax I guess...**

**Yeah lets go with that... So as you can guess there's going to be no pairings in this story (since we're at the second to last chapter) I thought about having TimxDecks but in the end... it didn't work out, maybe if I did a sequel (so very unlikely unless this huge group of people came out of nowhere and demanded it) also if you're out there and you wished this story was longer... It would have been probably if people had shown more interest since you didn't I just kept it a short look into the idea of basically what would happen if the Joker had a similar sidekick to Robin.**

**I do not own Batman**

Chapter 5

_Peony... only the Joker called her that now and only as a cruel reminder of what she had been before hell had become her life._

_As she held the gun to her head she saw genuine concern in the boy's face._

_Why?_

_Why did he want to save her...?_

_All she had ever done was use him to fake her own death and then just fight with him throwing any kindness he showed her back in his face._

_Peony was gone she had to be for Decks to live_

_For the girl to survive_

_But at the same time for the girl to be free Decks had to die_

_That's why she pulled the trigger on herself_

_That's all she wanted_

_She wanted to show the Joker she wasn't his to command_

_That she was sick of him_

_Sick of this life_

_She didn't care about the deal they had stuck_

"_Join up with me" he had said to the girl having escaped from the asylum he was shocked to find the hostage who supposedly died in the collapse of the building alive "It will be fun"_

_The girl didn't care about fun; she had been running from who she was_

_From what she was_

_Like any wild animal all she wanted was to live_

"_Screw fun! If you can offer safety I'll take it" the man grinned_

"_From those men who were chasing you? I already killed them" the girl gave him a weary look_

"_And anyone who comes from now on?" he laughed "I won't kill anyone" she didn't care about anything but survival but at the same time she didn't want to lose all her humanity like the man before her. He held out his hand_

"_All you have to do is obey every order I gave you" she took his hand that was fine_

/

Robin looked down at the body before him, when she fell she had landed back knocking over the chemical barrels, luckily nothing had opened.

She lay there her limbs screwed at odd angles, her eyes glassy. Though one side of her head was the hole and the offending object had fallen to the ground beside her in the pool of blood.

He knew he himself was covered in blood... her blood; he licked his lips tasting the metallic liquid sprayed on them.

Robin knew it was imposable as he knelt down next to her but at the same time he had to check, he pressed his fingers to her pulse feeling nothing. Not worrying about the blood he put his ear to her heart not hearing a beat.

It was his fault, he may not have driven her to it but he was the one who stood there and let her go through with it.

/

Batman and Batgirl were fighting the two clowns in the main room of the factory when they heard it.

"Peony!" and a gun shot. The sound of a body hitting the floor and knocking over the chemical barrels echoed throughout the factory.

The Joker laughed, Batman enraged ran towards the clown punching him as hard as he could in the face.

Robin wouldn't shoot a gun and Decks was nowhere to be seen. He understood what this meant and with every second felt his blood boil more.

"Looks like kido's really part of the family now" Harley laughed as Batgirl tried to do as much damage to the harlequin as possible. Harley dodged the other girl falling into some of the drums in the corner. The clown picked up her hammer and got ready to crack Batgirl's head open when a batarang came out of nowhere hitting her hand and forcing her to drop her hammer and double over in pain. Batgirl turned expecting to see Batman but instead her heart jumped.

"Robin!" she cried out, the boy was standing there his costume covered in blood including some splatter on his face. He looked furious. While Harley was distracted the female hero took the chance to run over and check the boy afraid he was injured. She was grateful to find the blood wasn't his.

"You should be dead!" Harley commented staring at the boy "Not that ya don't look it" Robin narrowed his eyes but didn't speak.

"So the Boy Blunder turns out to be fine what a boring twist" The Joker sounded annoyed

"Robin what happened?" Batman asked, the boy lowered his head

"Decks shot herself" Batgirl placed her hand gently on the boy's shoulder

"I don't see what you're so worried about" the Joker said with a shrug "the brat's fine then, she's like a cockroach. Can even survive a building falling on her how else do you think I found her?" Robin didn't understand how the man as crazy as he was thought a girl could survive a bullet to the brain.

"Damn and I thought you might be fooled" The three heroes turned their heads to see Decks standing hand on her hip a card ready to be thrown. She didn't look any different then she had before she shot herself except that her costume had been dyed crimson. The Joker laughed

"You know our deal still stands if you kill the boy" it was Decks turn to laugh; it was completely humourless worse than the one she had had before.

"I'll take my chances on the streets" The Joker shrugged and ran towards the girl, she dodged heading for higher ground as Batman engaged the clown in another fist fight. The punched and dodged each other and Harley and Batgirl did the same.

Robin jumped up next to the once dead girl.

"Like a cockroach eh?" the girl grinned at him mischievously "You going to explain?"

"Girl's gotta have her secrets right?" she turned away her eyes narrowing as she pointed at the goons getting ready to get in the middle of the fight between the heroes and villains. "Looks like we're working together on this one" the familiar smirk was on her face. Robin surprisingly found himself smirking back as they both leaped into the fray.

The effects of fighting each other became all to obvious the moment they threw the first punch, they knew each other's moves perfectly even being able to predict what the other would do next.

So to the goons two already formidable opponents became one unstoppable force and when they were all knocked out and tied up the two grinned at each other.

"Nice fighting with you" Robin said as they turned back to see if they could help with the other two's fight.

Batgirl had disarmed Harley and was tying her up at that moment.

Batman and Joker were still at it trading blows while the Joker cackled away. It didn't look like the fight was going to end any time soon. Decks grin grew bigger as she found a small lid on the ground, she threw it aiming for the Joker's head.

It distracted the man for a moment allowing Batman to get in a hit to finish the fight.

/

With all the goons, The Joker and Harley tied up Decks knew she was next. She doubted she would get out of this mess and this time her fate was sealed.

The Batclan did something that shocked her, they turned around. She was still there; she hadn't been tied up or anything.

Outside she could hear the Police sirens... A grin appeared on her face as she headed to the back door.

"Thanks" she said then stopped turning her head slightly "thank you Robin for everything" and she was gone out into the world again.

/

Batman and Robin stood in the commissioner's office, Harley and The Joker had safely been put back in Arkham Asylem and all their hired muscle was off the streets as well.

"What about the girl... Decks?" Batman shook his head

"I doubt we'll be seeing her again"

**Heh... Remember that hostage who supposedly didn't live though the hostage situation in the flash back in chapter one... well... yeah**

**Sorry this is so short... It just didn't work with any more additions.**

**And remember don't flame unless you have an extinguisher!**


	6. Epilogue

**Here's the last chapter amazing isn't it?**

**This will be much shorter than usual since I'm going to fix up the few loose ends I had left**

**I do not own Batman**

Epilogue

As Robin swung from building to building in the dark streets of the city he saw something not completely unusual for Gotham.

A young blond girl was being chased by some rather unsavoury looking men. The girl was trying to avoid the alleys as much as possible and was pretending she had yet to see the group as she steadily picked up speed.

Unfortunately for her she wasn't in the best part of town as it was and even on the main streets it was unlikely for anyone to care if she got taken by the men.

The girl looked like the type that men interested in that sort of thing looked for she was small, thin and her clothing choices wouldn't be described as conservative.

Robin decided how he would take the group at that moment; He swooped down and kicked one of them straight in the face. He expected to hear a gasp or the sound of the girl running off in the other direction instead she punched one of the other men in the face.

He quickly realised that the blond wasn't a push over but also with the amount of men following her it would have been hard for someone like him to fight though. As he turned around to speak to the girl he found no one.

"Up here!" The girl waved from the roof, Robin shrugged tying the men up and headed for the roof.

"So... Great view" he said dryly as the girl smirked at him... wait "do I know you?" he asked. The girl pouted removing what turned out to be a blond wig. Under it her hair was black with in the early light he could see brown regrowth from a dye job.

"Wow Boy wonder how pathetic it's only been a few mouths and you've already forgotten me?" she had one hand on her hip and in the other he saw a familiar tin card.

"Decks...I thought you would have left Gotham by now" the girl shook her head sitting down and crossing her legs, she patted the spot next to her indicating he should sit.

He did.

"I tried but... without the Joker's protection there's no way I could safely get out of this city" she sighed looking at the sun rise.

That was something that had been bothering him since the last time he had seen the girl, he had never found out why she had chosen to join up with the Joker in the first place. From how their last confrontation had ended he could tell it was never because she had been like minded.

"Why did you need his protection in the first place?" the boy asked. Decks looked at him almost sadly.

"The same reason my mother had to die... The same reason my father is missing" she paused "the same reason I got up from shooting myself in the head" she gritted her teeth and her eyes were suddenly burning like fire. "Because I have this stupid blood running though my veins... If I didn't I would still have them... I would..." tears started falling from her thin face. Robin realised that she was much skinnier then he had last seen her and she had ridiculously big black circles under her eyes. She wasn't in good health.

She took a deep breath before continuing.

"From generation to generation passed down through blood is the ability" she was almost whispering "the ability to survive any form of physical damage... even if I seem to be dead my body will heal it's self" to demonstrate she cut her arm with the card in her hand, there was some blood but then... the wound closed within moments.

Robin just stared at her for a moment

"My father thought to hide in plain sight, as long as they were famous... No one would come after us" she started drawing invisible shapes on the roof "they want the ability but a drop could kill... He didn't expect them to kill mum and when they caught him he told me to run... So I did, I did run and I soon realised that wasn't enough" She stared up at him, her eyes almost seemed to beg for forgiveness "I used you to fake my death when the Joker blow up that building... if Peony was dead I thought I could get out of town" he nodded

"But I still couldn't no matter what they chased me! No matter where I ran so when the Joker offered me survival I took it! But all that means now is that I'm trapped" Robin shook his head

"No you're not, don't worry about it" he stood up "you know my names the Boy wounder right? You've got me Peony and I'll make sure who ever they are don't ever catch you" the girl smiled at him weakly "and we'll find your dad" he held his hand out to the girl. She took it as he pulled her up.

"Okay I'll trust you on that one Boy wounder"

**And there you go the end of Playing Cards... Now I'm going to go start on another story I have an idea for, yes that will be another Batman story –hears the boos and calls for mirror- I get it, just give me some time alright!**

**And remember folks don't flame unless you have an extinguisher!**


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